Sympathy for the trickster
by SlytherinElektra
Summary: A new villain is out to finish all heroes... starting with two Asgardian brothers. A date gone wrong, Loki angst, conflicted emotions from Thor and some Tony Stark will feature.
1. The date

Jane's POV

It was only supposed to be a nice simple home-cooked dinner with Thor.

After he'd come back the last time, he'd been too busy saving the world (once and again and again and again and then saving Asgard and back saving earth), dealing with terrible threats, fighting, changing the fate of humanity… I thought he deserved nice meal of pasta and white wine after all that action.

He arrived early, dressed in some simple black pants and a grey T-shirt. However casual, he remained very impressive. Oh, if my ex could see me now….

"I brought you some flowers" he said, handing me an oversized bouquet "I've been told is the custom on occasions like these." He seemed a bit awkward in a calm environment like that, and I thought that it only added to his charm.

"Oh, thank you, that's so kind of you! Come on in, I'll go put these on water."

He remained on the entrance, stiff as a statue.

"Come on, have a seat." I said pointing the already set table. "And loosen up a bit, will you? We're here to have fun." I tried to make it sound a bit naughty but I doubted the stoic Norse god got the subtext.

This dinner was the first real date I had in a real long time and I wanted to make things right, however strange our situation could be. The thing is, as soon as I made that reference about having fun a bad feeling came over me. Yes, dinner parties were usually an occasion to have fun but nothing was ever this easy with Thor. Were we actually going to spend a calm evening? All signs pointed to yes, but a voice in the back of my head said that it seemed unlikely. Brushing it off as paranoia I asked my guest what was new in his life.

"Well, we have received a threat from this man who claims to…." He stopped himself and thought better. "No need to burden you with this serious matter. We're here to have fun, right?" He finished, smiling.

Oh, my! Oh, my! He wanted to have fun too! Fun, fun, fun!

I should've known I would jinx it, but before I could help myself I thought: This is so going to be my lucky night. Oh, how wrong I was.

So, we started to eat while I told Thor about my latest research. He really liked hearing me talk about stars, black holes and things like that. And I enjoyed having people show some interest, for a change. But after only a couple of minutes there was a loud noise outside my door, like something heavy falling.

"What was that?" Thor asked. I really didn't care. I just wanted him to ignore it and continue having fun. Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it! He looked at me and….

"Where were we?"

Yes! This was going so well!

But then it started. And everything went to hell.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

A soft knocking in my door, slow but steady. A never ending knocking, I should add. I was so mad that it was interrupting my date that I didn't give any importance to the strangeness of the whole thing.

"I'll go." I said, annoyed.

I opened the door and didn't even have the time to see who it was when an incredible (an invisible) force pushed to the wall on the other side of the room, roughly. Before I could grasp what was really happening I was floating near the roof, unable to move as if I was tied down by an invisible chain. I looked at Thor, but his gaze was fixed on a small red headed man that was at the door, presumably the author of this strange spell.

"You! Release her!" said Thor's deep voice. I was trying not to panic, but being paralyzed up in the air wasn't something I was used to.

"That was warning number one." The man said, solemn. "You should have listened better, Asgardian. You should have taken the deal. Luckily for you, I have a kind heart, so I'll give you two more warnings and then a day to reconsider. This is warning number two…."

Suddenly, I was moving again, speeding against the opposite wall. I hit it hard and then abruptly crashed into the ground. I caught my breath and realized that I could move again. Thank god for small mercies. I tried to pull myself together and assess the damage. As hard as the fall had been nothing seemed to be broken, which was good. I was starting to try and stand up to show Thor I was OK when I heard the man speak again.

"…and this is warning number three. He, he fought with honor, when he passes –unfortunately I don't think he'll make through tonight, sorry- you should bury him honorably, too."

What? Again, The sound of falling. Whatever had fallen had raised a layer of dust and I could hardly see. I just hoped Thor was all right because if he wasn't…

"You have a day, Asgardian, one day before I start to really destroy you. I would advise you to reconsider." And with that, the man was gone.

I stood up, after a lot of effort, and looked up. The place was a bit thrashed, but nothing too serious. I sighed, remembering how hopeful I was when the dinner had started.

And then I saw Thor. He seemed uninjured, but there was a look of pure grief in his eyes. I finally got up and as I approached I saw that the thing that had fallen was a person, a man, and Thor was cradling him, supporting the man's head and shoulders.

"No, no, no, no…..No, no." I heard him wishper.

As I came closer, I saw that the man was unconscious and had many bleeding wounds, the blood pooling under him. His arm was bent in a strange angle, was blood on his hair, blood on his clothes and blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. This man was gravely injured.

And Thor continued wishpering to the unconscious form:

"Please, please, say something, wake up."

His voice cracked.

"Wake up, Loki."

A/N: Who was this man? What happened to Loki? Ah, the mystery! Did you like it? No? Had any kind of comments, suggestions, etc? Next chapter will probably be in Thor's point of view and explain a few things and have more Avengers (this was just the introduction). Sorry about any spelling/grammar mistakes, English is not my first language. And please do comment!

You know you want to review!


	2. Thor's many troubling thoughts

Thor POV

It had all gone wrong in a matter of seconds.

One minute I was enjoying a most mortal and Midgardian evening with the lovely Jane and the next I was cradling the body of my dying brother in her thrashed apartment.

The htreat of this man had been in the back of my head all day, but I thought I would have more time. I thought I could have an evening of calm before the storm. I was such a fool! I should have told Jane I could not go to her date, but I didn't think this Dominion man was worth my time. I thought he was only a man with a long tongue and a big ego. I never imagined he could have this kind of power. If his magic was stronger than Loki's….. Well, it was not good. In fact, it was horrible.

He had come to me the previous day. He told me that he was going to eliminate all the heroes of the Earth, so he would be the only saviour and thus, ruler of the earth. Since I was not from earth he didn't need to eliminate me, I was not competition. He told me to join him in his quest and then go back to Asgard. If I did, I would receive high honours from the new ruler of Midgard: himself. I did not take him seriously (he was only a little man with ridiculous clothing and mouth full of great words), but as I looked around me I realized my mistake. I was wrong to understimate the man and now Jane and Loki were paying the consequences. Fool, I was such a fool.

"Please, wake up, Loki. Wake up!" I ordered with all the strength my voice could muster.

I had never seen my brother so lifeless, so broken. Ironically, there had been times in which I wished I didn't have a brother. I wished the worst things on him. But now that something bad had finally happened to him…. The pain was too great. I caressed his bloodied face, trying to cause a reaction. Nothing. When I heard the thumping noise with Dominion's third warning I had feared for the lives of many people… but never for Loki. He was one of the strongest, most capable people I knew. I had not feared for him because in my mind, no one could hurt him. But now….

It was hard to hold back the tears seeing him like this. His usually pale skin was ashen now, had lost its life. He was cut everywhere, in his arms, legs, his stomach and chest, even in his face, there where deep lashes all over his body and they were bleeding. I could already feel his blood on my fingertips from where I touched him. My brother's blood. Loki's blood. It felt like a nightmare, a bad dream. I may have wanted to stop him but I never wanted him dead. Not like this. Not now. Not ever.

And it should not be happening. Loki's magic had always protected him, helped him heal better. I did not understand why it was not working now. The only theory I could come up with was that Dominion had drained or bound all his magic. Loki, like every living thing, could only withstand a certain quantity of abuse. And now it seemed that his limit had been breached. Even so, I could not understand why he remained so lifeless while he bled out. This should not be happening. I softly slapped his face again. He needed to wake up!

"Loki, please, do not do this to me!"

"Oh my god!" came Jane's voice. I hadn't heard her come, but now she was in front of me. "That's Loki? But I thought you guys were like enemies."

"HE'S MY BROTHER!" I shouted at her, hurt that she could think something as horrible as wishing my own brother dead. Then I regretted being so harsh towards her, who didn't deserve any of my anger. And she had been hurt too, because of me.

"I am sorry, Jane. I did not want to so harsh, this is not your fault" I looked down at Loki again. "I know he has done terrible things but… He is not as evil as people think. There is good in him too, I know that."

"I didn't mean it like that" she said, seeming fairly understanding. "What I meant to say is, if he is your enemy, what was he doing fighting that other creepy enemy of yours? Shouldn't he have sided with him or something?"

A very logical question.

"Why, brother?"

I asked his unconscious form. But there was no reaction. No reaction at all. Why had he fought against Dominion? That man wanted destruction and Loki had always been a fan of mayhem and chaos. The man had had probably offered him the same deal he offered me, Loki was Agardian, too. Why refuse? Why fight until the very limits of his strength against him? What had driven him?

"Why would you keep fighting to endure such agony? Why didn't you escape?"

All these questions kept running through my head while I kept hoping for his magic to reappear and heal him, for the nightmare to be over. Memories of us when we were children came to me: Loki had been my best friend, my confident, my….

"Thor?" came Jane's voice again, and I looked up at her "I'm sorry to interrupt your thinking but if you want him to live we should probably try to stop the bleeds and get him some proper medical care."

She was right. It was no use hoping he would heal himself anymore.

"Yes, yes. You are right."

"Do you know where can we take him? He's probably have a different physiology than the rest of us, there would a lot of questions in a public hospital." Jane asked, while gathering bandages and other supplies.

Where, where, where, where…? Yes!

"Stark. He has a medical team for himself and he said he was staying in a house he had near here!"

"Do you have an address?"

"Yes!" I was wearing my usual pants of "normal midgardian" and in them was a paper with the number and addresses of the people of SHIELD, to be able to contact them if the need arose.

"We'll go there, then." Jane said and left to try to find her car keys in the mess Dominion had made.

I held my brother closer, embracing him.

"You'll be all right, Loki, I will do everything in my power to make sure of it." I whispered to him. "But you have to hold on, brother. Just hold on."

A/N: Poor Thor, the guy can't catch a break. Sooo, did you like it? No? There wasn't a lot of action, I know, but I wanted to focus on Thor's feelings a bit. Next chapter will have our heroes going to Iron Man's place for help. Will they be welcome? No? What will Tony's reaction be? That, next time. Hope you enjoyed this part!

You know you want to review!


	3. Arrival at Casa Stark

Jane POV

I had never seen him like this. So distraught and pained. Thor was sitting in the backseat of my car while we travelled to Tony Stark's place. His brother, still unconscious, was laying in his lap, his legs messily sprawled in the car. I tried to concentrate on the road (_That is your job now_, I told myself, _forget everything else and just drive and get them there_) but I was constantly distracted. By both of them.

Every once in a while Thor would like at me, with a mix of urgency and gratitude. I knew what he meant; it meant "I'll thank you for all this once my brother is taken care of". I felt like smiling at the gesture, but this was no time to smile. Not while Thor was red all over, stained with the blood of his brother. A quick glance at the unconscious black haired man made increase the speed.

Many times I had imagined meeting Loki, that infamous evil brother that had sent that horrible machine to kill Thor. None of them even resembled any of this. I had imagined a big confrontation, both speaking in that elegant way they had and Thor easily winning the fight with one of his golden smiles. And of course, being so evil, I had always imagined Loki being uglier. Maybe it was seeing him so vulnerable or the love obviously Thor still had for him but he was much more beautiful than I had imagined. And much more broken.

He was dressed only in a ragged (torn and bloodied) black shirt and what remained of some severely worn out grey shorts, that seemed to be disintegrating at places. _Like something a prisoner would wear_, I thought, distraught. The exposed parts of his skin were all incredibly pale or crimson and purple and then, there was all that blood. Everything seemed to be covered in blood. How the man was even alive, I had no idea.

"So, can you tell me who the hell that man was?" I asked, trying to distract Thor from the injuries of his brother.

He explained briefly and I wondered what I'd gotten myself into.

"I am sorry about all of this, Jane." The blond said and I gave another quick look at the back, throwing the biggest smile I could muster.

"Not your fault." That was when I saw the back of my car.

The blood was seeping through the bandages we had hastily placed Loki's worst wounds and it was dripping in the car, making a small pool. A pool of blood. I hit the gas pedal, a bit freaked out. I wanted to scream. My date was ruined, my apartment was ruined, my car was ruined and if I wasn't quick enough both Thor and his brother would be ruined, one dead and the other grieving. I wanted to completely freak out and cry and go to sleep, to my research and…. But no. _Forget everything else and just drive and get them there, _I kept repeating, _that's your job now, there will be time to freak out then._

The rest of the trip passed in relative silence. Every once in a while Thor would ask me how long until Stark's or whisper into his brother's broken frame. The black-haired man continued to be unconscious, unmoving. His cuts and bruises stood out greatly against the incredible paleness of the skin. I noticed that Thor was lightly caressing Loki's face, probably deep in thought. I didn't want to intrude, but I made a mental note to hug the thunder god when Loki was sorted out. His evening had been ruined, too, and in a worse way than mine.

It seemed like forever but we finally made it to Stark's fancy mansion in the desert. A bit too much, if you asked me. There was some sort of electrified fence-door-thing and a machine asked who we were before letting us in and started scanning and recording. Thor nodded in acknowledgement.

"Stark, it is Thor. Let us enter" His voice boomed from the back seat and the door opened, letting the car in. I parked near the entrance and got out. Thor followed me, carrying his brother bridal style. I noted, horrified, that he was still dripping blood. How much more could he lose?

"Can you ring the bell?" My still-date-for-the-night asked, politely.

I nodded, but was suddenly nervous. I was on the doorstep of a stranger (and a celebrity) and I didn't how to act, what to say. But it was not me who mattered. Before I had a chance to ring, Stark was already on the door. Funny, he seemed bigger on TV than he really was, I thought, taken a bit by surprise.

"And you are?" He asked, with a charming smile. But before I could answer he saw Thor. "Ah, there's our Godly friend and neighbor! Wait, is that…?"

"Stark, I am grave need of your aid."

I didn't like the look on this man's face. We hadn't driven this far just to have the man slam the door in our faces! No, sir, no way.

"Is that Loki?" Stark asked, apparently disgusted.

"He is gravely injured, I fear he will not last long without proper healing. I know you have a medical team and…"

"And you want me to waste it in Loki? That man is a criminal. For all we know, this could be a trick to get inside this house. He would be a danger to me, to all the technology, to Pepper. Maybe they'll look after him in SHIELD, or you could ask Banner, he's a Doctor. But I won't let him in my house, sorry."

Thor looked at him with a mix of desperation and incredulity, and his voice was rough when he spoke again.

"We do not have time to go elsewhere! My brother is hardly clinging to life, you have the means to save him and refuse to? And you call yourself a hero?"

Stark looks at Thor again, uncertain.

"Is it really that bad?"

"His breathing has decreased into being almost inexistent in the last minutes, he has blood in his lungs. I know this is your house and I know Loki is not in your good graces but give him a chance to amend his mistakes, a chance to undo all the wrong he's made. I will stay by his side if you need me to, I will make sure he is not dangerous. But let him live. Please."

Stark sighs.

"JARVIS, call all the emergency medical team, tell them to get here immediately. As in life or death situation. Come on in, I'll tell you where we can put him. But, at the first sign of him regaining consciousness he goes into the triple locked basement."

Thor finally gets in, and I release a breath I didn't know I was holding. I allow myself a little smile. My job is done, we are at our destination, safe and sound (more or less).

I follow the men through the many corridors and rooms into a place that looks very similar to a hospital room. It's a pale blue place with a big bed in the middle and several machines more fit to a hospital than an extravagant playboy's mansion: one for the oxygen, a heart monitor, saline solution….

"I tend to get a bit banged up while on Iron Man business and this way I can skip all the paperwork." Stark told when he noticed I was staring. "Tony Stark, I don't think I had the pleasure yet."

"I'm Jane Foster" I answered, still a bit out of it, watching Thor carefully put his brother in the big bed. I smiled as I saw him plant a kiss on the unconscious god's forehead. Stark, on the other hand, didn't seem so pleased.

"So, care to tell what the hell happened, pal?"

"It was Dominion." Answered Thor. "He seems to have magic."

"That arrogant douche who claims he's going to destroy us all?"

"He asked me to join him and I refused. Then he interrupted me when I was with Jane, threw her flying across the room with some spell and dropped my agonizing brother on the floor. As a warning, he said."

"I don't know…What if Loki is in this, too? What if they're together and the plan is for us to believe they're not all along?"

Seems quite logical.

"NO." The thunder god's tone of voice leaves no room for doubt. "My brother would never willingly be without his magic, much less risk his life in this manner. Loki is very intelligent, he would have found a way to make plan work without harming himself."

"I guess" Answers Stark and the first doctor appears in the room and asks us to go out. Stark tells us to go to the living room and discuss this situation further. _Yay for discussions of magic terrorists at three in the morning!_

With one last fleeting glance at the bed I see that the sheets are red, now, and that Loki looks even paler, if possible. Even the medical personnel seems horrified. That cannot possibly be part of any plan.

_Get well soon, Loki_.

A/N: Ugh. Strange chapter. Me don't like. Hope you enjoyed it, anyways. Next one should be in Tony's POV and a bit what the hell is happening to Loki will be explained. Anyways, please tell me any thoughts, comments, remarks… On this part! Good or bad. I'd like to put Steve in here somehow, but I don't know exactly how. Any thoughts?

You know you want to review!


	4. Developments and pieces from the fight

Tony POV

It was after three a.m. when Dr. Keyes arrived and, seeing the disastrous state of the patient hastily asked me and the other two to leave. I also saw him frantically handling his pager, probably calling more people.

"Do everything you can for him, ok? And the fewer questions asked the better."

Keyes nodded and got in the business as me, Thor and his girlfriend left the room. I still had a lot of doubts about... well, about almost everything. But this seemed to be right thing to do.

We get to the living room and I make myself a cup of coffee and offered Thor and Jane? Jeane? Gina? (god, I really needed that coffee) some more of it. I gave them a long look while getting a mug for the lady. She was a very nice looking woman, beautiful, determined. As much as I didn't share Thor's fashion sense or fancy talking I could certainly understand his taste in women. The god, on the other hand, looked more shaken that I had ever seen him. He was pacing nervously and was his clothes were stained with blood. I didn't know if his anxious state was caused by his not-biologically-but-deep-down-truly brother's catastrophic state or if it was facing a threat of unknown power. Or both. Or the fact that his brother's life depended on my generosity.

I have to admit that I was extremely reluctant when I saw the identity of Thor's package (so to speak). That damned man had thrown me through a fucking window! And my life had always been something that mattered dearly to me, thank you very much. But then I saw the state of Loki (there was blood, there was so much blood) and remembered Thor's words that rang so true (if he wanted to he would have found a way to make the plan work without hurting himself, much less be at the brink of death). And as much as I hated the guy I couldn't just let him die, much less when his mighty brother was practically begging for my help (Not openly, of course, a god does no such thing, but the look he'd given me on the doorstep was as close as one could get).

"Thank you" Thor's girlfriend said when I handed her the mug, interrupting my train of thought. "And thank you for everything else, letting us in, the doctors...everything." and with this she looked at the blonde god as if she was saying _he is thankful too_ "I also have experienced Loki's chaos and horror firsthand but still..." She took a sip of her coffee and looked at the ceiling, then at me "If he's against Dominion then we're all on the same side."

That brought an interesting point. Why the hell would Loki fight with a fellow villain (someone who logic dictated should be a colleague in arms for the god of chaos) almost to the death?

"Thor, pal, any ideas why Loki would be against this guy and not with him?"

"I have wondered that, too. It makes no sense. Nothing of this whole mess does. I was not even aware that my brother was in Midgard... I fear I cannot tell you more than I already have."

The woman (I'm almost sure her name was Jane. But was it?) reminded him about the deal Dominion proposed and Thor explained it to me. So this madman wanted to rule the earth (big surprise!) but was ready to spare aliens and use them as allies. And he also did magic, apparently.

"So..." I started putting everything together "this guy said before he destroyed your apartment that Loki fought with honor, right? Ok, JARVIS hack into SHIELD's face recognition system and look for any recent footage of Loki and the man identified as Dominion and tell me right away if you find anything."

"Already on it, sir."

So much talk about villains, world destruction and terrorism had chased all my sleepiness away. The concerned face of Thor and the threat that the terrorist had apparently said while thrashing everything (_you have a day before I start to destroy you_) weren't happy news, either. I told JARVIS to run a background on everything there to know about Dominion, while maintaining the priority to search of footage of the fight.

I was pouring myself and the woman (almost, almost certain her name was Jane) another cup of coffee when I saw Dr. Keyes getting out of the consult, so I called him.

"Doctor! How are things going?"

His expressive face didn't left much hope for good news.

"We are doing everything we can, sir, I called some of the best Doctors of the state, Dr. Laurie, Dr. Parker but..." He took a deep breath and took off his blood stained surgery gloves "Well there are some strange things about his physiology but the basics seem to be the same as for the rest of us, so we've treated him normally. We've set the arm, the leg and the ribs that were broken and we've been trying to diminish the bleedings on his lungs and abdomen. The problem is that we don't know the origin of these bleeds and we can't seem to stop them. We've pumped him full of our best meds, but he keeps getting worse and there are already signs of hypovolemic shock. His vitals are getting worse, too. We'll continue to look for whatever is causing it but it doesn't look too promising. I really am sorry."

"Thank you, doc." I said, even if they were not the best of news. No reason to shoot the messenger.

"Oh, I almost forgot, is any of you Thor?"

"I am." The god answered, almost instantly.

"He awoke for a bit and called for you, he seemed to want to tell you something pretty badly, but he passed out again before telling us what. I'll tell one of the nurses to get you if he wakes again, if you want to."

"I would appreciate that."

"I'll just go get some more supplies from the van and go back to the consult. I hope things will improve."

And with that the doctor left. After the doctor's little speech Thor looked genuinely depressed more even than before. I had to admit it, even I was a bit sad after hearing Dr. Keyes' not-so-hopeful prognostic. Loki was not an exemplary individual but he was one of the few witty terrorists I'd encountered and he would have been an amazing ally, given the chance.

I saw the woman (her name had to be Jane!) hugging Thor and looked back at the computer not wanting to intrude in an intimate moment. I saw JARVIS had a lot of partial hits on footage... No partials, there hits but there were only parts.

"What is this, JARVIS?"

"Sir, I believe I found the remains of footage with the persons you wanted, but it's been tampered with. I was trying to put the fragments I found in chronological order using the time stamp but the time stamp is missing in some."

"Could you play the fragments for me, JARVIS?"

"Of course, sir. Playing fragments."

An empty room with no furniture in it, two people. I told JARVIS to zoom on them in every part. There was Loki with his black hair and the raggedy clothes he was wearing when he arrived here and there was Dominion in one of his stupid suits.

In the first Loki was on the floor, already coughing up blood.

In the second fragment they were fighting, and the god seemed to have the upper hand.

In the third Loki was speaking: "That is very low, even for the likes of me." He said. Thor came closer, possibly alarmed by the sound of his brother's voice.

In the fourth Dominion picked up a broken Loki from the floor.

In the fifth there was just Loki, with his stupidly shiny eyes. If this was almost breaking my heart (Loki deserved better than this, a chance for redemption, forgiveness, he was too epic a person to go in a such a sad way, bled out in a former enemy's home-made surgery) I couldn't imagine what Thor could be feeling.

In the fifth fragment Dominion had his hand on Loki's throat and was whispering something. And that was it. The end. Not very enlightening, really.

"Play that last one again." Thor urged and I ordered JARVIS to do so. The god seemed recognize something in that part. "I know that spell! I know it! I was never good at those arts but Loki warned me about this particular one in more than one occasion. I think... Play it again, please!"

And so it was played again and Thor looked even more convinced this time.

"Yes! It's the forbidden spell! I knew it!" Thor boomed.

"Forbidden? Why, what does it do?" Thor's girlfriend asked, voicing my own question.

"It turns the magic against the sorcerer. Reverses its effects to harm the magic-maker from the inside."

I was starting to understand and I didn't like what I was understanding. But I said it anyway:

"So, every time Loki tries to heal himself the magic only makes it worse, and when he tries to shut it down it only gets stronger." Thor nodded and I cringed. "Jeez, that's really mean."

"All this time I thought he was without his magic because it has always protected and helped him heal... and it was what killing him all along! Quick, Stark, do you have any more of those chains we used on my brother when I last took him to Asgard?"

"That was SHIELD technology, not mine. They probably have spares but if we don't have the time to go and ask them and go through the bureaucracy, no, no..." And then _Ding! _idea. Sometimes I loved my brain. "Steve is living in SHIELD headquarters! Yes! I'll call him, tell him that we need this chains in a life or death situation and to just ignore all SHIELD protocols and get here ASAP. He already trusts me more than them and he is a loyal soldier, the best of soldiers. Yes! JARVIS, call Steve Rogers."

"Calling, sir."

The three of us, the three were holding our breaths while we heard the phone ring.

_Beeeeeep, beeeeeeep._

Every second was a second less for Loki, a second closer to Dominion's doom.

_Beeeeeep, beeeeeeep._

This was the only hope that was left.

_Beeeeeep, beeeeeeep._

Why wasn't he picking up? Come on, pick up the phone, dammit!

_Beeeeeep, beeeeeeep._

Come on, Steve!

_Beeeeeep, beeeeeeep._

Pick it up!

A/N: Long chapter is long. Hope you have enjoyed it, nevertheless! What did you think about Tony? (Apparently, he thinks with a lot of parentheses, sorry about that) I tried to give a correct medical explanation but if I was not correct, I apologize. What will happen now? Will Steve pick up too late? Will Loki be saved or will he perish before telling Thor whatever he wanted to tell him? Ah, the tension! Please comment with opinions, whatever you liked or not, random feels… Anything, do tell!

You know you want to review!


	5. Getting worse

Thor POV

_Beep, beep_

"Hello? Who is it?"

Finally!

"Hi, hello Captain Rogers, this is Tony Stark." He said.

"Stark... why are you calling at this hour? " The American Captain said with a sleepy voice.

"We have a mission for you, pal. Your still at SHIELD?"

"Yes, I am." The captain voice much more clear and full of decision now that he'd heard something about a mission. I was glad.

"We need you to get those chains we used on Loki the last time he was here. I'll send you the details of its whereabouts and the codes to break in, ok? They should be in the weapons vault in the underground floor."

"One moment, Loki is on earth? Why was I not informed?"

"It's... complicated." Stark continued "Look, we'll explain everything when you get here, but now I need your trust, ok? This needs to be done as quickly and efficiently as possible, so no informing SHIELD. They would only mess everything up and we don't have time for their interference. Time is the essence, and we need those chains in here now. You up for it?"

"There are still many things I don't uderstand..." He sounded doubtful so I decided to speak.

"Captain, as the Man of Iron has said everything will be explained on your arrival, every question you have answered. But now we are in dire need of that device and we require your help. It is truly a matter of life or death." I explained.

"Thor?"

"Yes, it is I. Will you help us in this task, Captain?"

"Yes, all right... I'll be as quick as I can."

"Thank you, Cap. We appreciate it. Steal a plane or a chopper or do whatever you like but get here fast. I'll send all the info, our coordinates and the details to your phone. You know how to use it, right?" Stark asked, a hint of amusement in his previously serious voice.

"I'll manage, yes."

And that was it. End of conversation. Jane and Stark decided to go to sleep (Stark had offered Jane and I a very spacious room and she was quick to accept) but I decided to go see my brother again. The words from the healer that had spoken earlier had distressed me greatly. What could be the message that my brother had wanted to tell me so desperately? Why did he call me? And even if the cause of his illness was now known, Loki's motives remained unclear. The fragmented recording from their fight had done nothing but confuse me further. How did he appear in that desolated place? And why? Had Dominion decided to meet him there? Had he been the one who brought him to Midgard, perhaps hoping to gain an ally on his disgraceful quest?

Loki had said in one of the fragments that whatever Dominion was proposed was low, even for someone like him. That could be the reason he hadn't join. His mental health might have been compromised, but in the essence he remained a prince who had his pride and his standards. The fact that Dominion was ready to overlook the most basic rules of battle, that he would use dirty weapons like the forbidden spell did nothing to diminish my unease...

When I found myself alone I slowly made my way to the room in which we had left Loki a mere hours ago. By the norns, it felt like weeks had passed since I was on Jane's apartment trying to, as Midgardians said, "catch up" with her. I dreaded what I was going to find in the healing chambers, the image of an ashen Loki bleeding out in the back of Jane's car still too fresh in my mind. The sight that greeted me in Stark's surgery did not offer a significant improvement. My brother was paler than the sheets in his bed, he seemed to be connected to a number of machines and tubes were coming out of him. I hated the invasive nature of this kind of medicine but if it was helping Loki I could only be grateful. Losing a member of my kin was not a pain I was looking forward to. I noticed that his many wounds had been dressed and that there was a nurse slowly cleaning the blood that still came out of his mouth.

"Oh, you must be Thor." The nurse said when she saw me and I nodded. "He was asking about you."

"Did he woke up again?" I asked, hopeful.

"No, just the one time. But he was pretty insistent. Is he your...?" But I didn't let her finish her the question.

"He is my brother." I said, wishing Loki could her me too. _You will always be my brother, Loki, no matter you do. Today and always, for better or worse_.

"I am sorry." She said, and that angered me. How dared she talk as if Loki was already dead?

"There is no reason to be sorry." I said, more harshly than intended. "My brother will be saved."

She looked at me with pity in her eyes. She clearly thought having hope was foolish.

"I'll call Doctor Keyes and give you guys a moment for yourselves. Here you have clean towels to clean the blood and make sure his head is on the this position, if moved he could choke with the blood." I shivered, for the first time in many years. "I'll be back in a moment, but if anything happens you can press this button here, ok?"

And she exited, leaving me alone with this ghost that so ressembled Loki.

"Peculiar, this Midgardian healing techniques, right? Jane has explained me parts of it but they still amaze me."

I knew talking to him was probably useless but nevertheless I continued.

"I cannot imagine the pain you are experiencing, brother. I only wish there was something I could do... Something useful, not just this unbearable wait... But help is coming, and you will be whole again. And who knows, if you help us with Dominion, maybe the Allfather will see fit to shorten your sentence maybe even grant you your freedom back for some time...Truth is, I miss having you at my side on battles. As good a help as the Avengers are they do not know me like you did and I do not know them. We fight well but somehing is still missing. And that Hulk creature seems to have problems with both of us! He punched me in a manner that..."

"Th- thor?" A low voice, barely a wishper, stopped me.

"Loki? Can you hear me?"

His eyelids parted with difficulty but it was not imagination. He was looking at me.

"How do you feel, Loki?" I asked, overjoyed at this sudden reaction.

His pale eyes were on me and he weakly grabbed my hand.

"Thor, I... you have to... please, you have to..."

But blood was again on his mouth and he could no longer speak.

"Loki!" I shouted "Brother, resist!"

My pleas were useless. The eyes rolled up into his head and he went, once again, completely limp. The machines started making strange loud sounds and in seconds healers rushed in and made me leave.

I growled in frustration, desperately wanting to destroy something.

"You ok, big buddy?"

Stark's voice behind me startled me but when I saw it was just him I calmed down some.

"Yes but... this whole situation is difficult for me. I am sorry if I am not more helpful."

"No worries. I've been looking up what JARVIS had found on Dominion and I have a few ideas on how to take him down that I'd like to discuss with you and Steve."

Finally, some good news.

"I will gladly discuss them with you. That man will pay and pay dearly, I assure you. He will live to regret the day he did magic for the first time."

Odinsons were not people to be messed with.

Before I went back to talking to Stark I thought about Loki one last time and willed him to live.

_I know there's better brothers but you're the only one that's mine._

A/N: Again, strange chapter. That last line is from a song called Brother by a band named Murder by death and it suits this quite well -you should check it out ;)-. Please leave your opinions, remarks, comments etc. in the review section! It's much appreciated!

You know you want to review!


	6. Dominion and the Captain

Tony POV

Thor and I were awkwardly chatting (well, I was doing most of the talking, but still) while we waited for Steve to come. I could see that something had happenned with Loki, because his eyes had more grief and two touches more of crazy than before. Also, he kept looking in the direction of Loki's room with a growing anxiety. I sure was hoping his brother didn't die in here, because if he did all of my house and belonging risked destruction. And it would be sad, too. I'd never had a brother (much less one that tried to kill me) but if Rhodey or Pepper or another one of my friends was slowly bleeding out of life while I could nothing about it but wait, I would be pissed too.

Suddenly, all the screens around us turn to black and then to bright silver. A grey silvery screen.

"Stark?" Thor asked, in his incredibly grave voice "What is this you're doing?"

"I'm not doing anything. JARVIS? What's happening?"

And then, he appeared. In the middle of our screens, very theatrically, Dominion materialized. That little stupid man, today wearing a bright purple suit. Oh, and he was even wearing matching make-up. He probably he thought he was an innovative never-seen-before kind of guy. An individual that would change the world. He was just an idiot.

"Hello, gentlemen. So glad to see you both here, that way I won't have to repeat myself so many times. I just wanted to remind the Asgardian oaf that he has twelve hours left to decide. Surely, the severity of my warnings must have made you reconsider?"

The god approached the screen menacingly.

"You will pay for what you have done to Loki. You have defiled the name of magician and the very nature of magic and you are insane if you thought I would join your senseless crusade."

I snorted.

"You thought he would join you after you nearly kill his brother and ruin his date. Not very clever, are you?" I asked, confident. No one could beat me at being cocky.

"Feeling left out, Mr. Stark? Don't worry, after I'm done with him and his hammer I will take care of you. People seem to like you. Seeing your body hang from the top of that beautiful tower you have will send a nice message, I think."

"I'll love to see you try, clown." I answered, not even a bit scared by any threat made by that high-pitched monkey."

"Twelve hours. I know where you are and I will always know, so trying to scape is useless. In twelve hours I will march against you, and you'll wish you'd taken me more seriously. It will all become ashes and dust. Bang! ... There goes your whole world."

And the connection was over.

"What a douche!" I heard a feminine voice behind me. Apparently, Jane (a.k.a. Thor's girl) had woken up and had been watching the whole thing. She was standing there, dressed in a pair of Pepper's PJ I lent her looking at the screen with disgust.

"Yeah! And we thought Loki was a Diva. This guy, appearing in the screens in a silver glow, who does he think he is?" I asked, and the other two nodded in approval.

While Jane told her friends and family where she was (and that she didn't know when she'd be back), I continued to dig into my machines, checking the arsenal available and making calls to my team to improve it. Considering what to give my friends and what to take for myself, making a few adjustments to the suit. Dominion was going down. Not only he'd ruined a perfectly good night, for me, Thor and his girlfriend and now poor Steve (who knew what he could be thinking) but now he had threatened me and the whole world in a very distasteful manner.

I watched as Thor went back to his brother's bedside and lightly took his hand.

"It will be a question of minutes now." Dr. Keyes told me when he came out. "The man has fought all he could."

God, where the hell was Steve?

"I didn't have the stomach to tell brother." The doctor continued, defeated.

"It's OK, doc, you did all you could."

This was not going well.

Some minutes later, the buzzer rang and I felt instantly relieved.

"Who is it?" I asked, cautious.

"It's Captain Rogers."

"Get your ass in here, NOW!" I yelled to the intercom.

I didn't even register him entering, or his clothes, or his look I just saw the chains (and remembering the Doctor's words, Thor's haunted look, the massive amount of blood) ran like hell to the surgery.

There was Thor, all shiny eyes, wiping some blood from his brother's mouth when he saw me. Before any words were exchanged I put the chains on Loki's grey, almost translucent wrists. That was it. It was done.

The blond norse shared a hopeful look.

"It will be all right now, brother."

But there didn't seem to be any improvement and Loki still looked like a corpse. Of course. The chains prevented more damage but did not fix what was already done they didn't heal him _per se_. And his body was still in a terrible state... what if it was already too late? Nah, Thor was hopeful, and that was good enough for me.

I pressed one button and hal the medical team came through the door.

"You fill them in?" I asked Thor.

He nodded, the grief gone from his eyes.

"You have my thanks, Anthony of Stark."

"Anytime, pal."

I left the room with a grin the size of Kansas in my face. We were ahead of Dominion now, the way it should be. A grin that highly contrasted Captain America's deep frown.

"What the hell is going on?"

A/N: Hope you liked it! Sorry for the delay, holidays and rock festivals got in the way ;) Hope you enjoyed it! You know you want to review!


	7. Ready for the fight

Steve POV

"Well, Captain..."

Stark, who had taken those off me in a second and disappeared to who knows where without telling me a thing had come out with a happy look on his face. Happy, why? What the hell?

"Why did I have to bring those chains? I don't see Loki and there's no chaos or destruction that needs to be stopped. Is there any other alien threat that needs to be taken care of? Where did you disappear to? And where is Thor, I thought this was a matter of life or death for him?"

I asked because I needed answers. No, I demanded answers. I hadn't woken in the early hours of the morning, broken into a government facility, stolen a valuable piece of equipment and broke several speed limits on my way here to not get any answers.

"Dude, as we say in this time, take a chill pill. I will answer all your questions in a minute. Although I would rather not do it alone... but well." He said, with his usual nonchalance. "Do you know anything about a man who calls himself Dominion?"

"Yes, the one with the colorful clothes, right?" I answered, vaguely remembering a video I saw in SHIELD headquarters. "He threatens to take over the world and I don't know what else. Doesn't seem to be a real threat, he doesn't have resources or back-up that we know about. Why, what does he have to do with this?"

He quickly explained what had happened the previous night. Dominion's deal with Thor, how he arrived, the threat on the computers this morning. I wasn't very reassured.

"So, we did all this to save Loki? The man that brought aliens to New York, almost destroyed it and tried to take over the world?"

"I know, I know, but this is a whole new chapter of the story. Dominion is a bigger threat than we thought, he has A-league magic and doesn't even follow the most basic rules of magician decency, apparently. And Loki fought him to the brink of death, he is dying because he wouldn't join his side. I think that gives him the right to at least some effort on our part to save his life."

"Loki fought against Dominion?"

"I have it on tape, apparently Dominion's plans were too low even for him. And he was wining, too, until that dirty spell. You should've seen him when Thor brought him, he looked like a victim of a chemical weapon or something. Come think of it, why don't you go now, see for yourself that he isn't a threat?"

"You're sure of that, Stark?" Being a room alone with Loki, the murderer prince from another planet? Didn't sound like such a good idea to me.

"Pal, ten minutes ago a doctor was telling me that there was no hope for him, that he was practically dead. Trust me, there's no risk. He's down the corridor, second door on the left."

I decided to go, because I wanted to see for myself that he wasn't really dangerous. So, second door on the left.

It was a big room, filled with medical equipment and supplies. Bandages, flasks of medicines, defibrillators... And in the center a big long bed covered by perfectly white sheets that were stained red in some places. Thor was there, sitting in a chair near the head of the bed his hand holding another hand... That's when I saw him. I hadn't known this was Loki I would've never connected this man with my enemy. He was incredibly white, almost grey at places, and completely still. There was still some dried blood on his face and if not for the slight movement behind the sheets I would have thought he ws already dead.

"Captain" Thor said, finally acknowledging my presence.

And, suddenly, out of the blue, he hugged me.

"It is thanks to your speedy action that my brother is alive in this moment. I will never be able to repay you enough."

I thought that maybe, had I known that it was to save Loki instead of chain him I wouldn't have hurried so much. And then I felt extremely guilty.

"How is he?"

Thor went back to his place next to his brother's bed.

"He's very weak, that spell caused massive internal damage and a big amount of blood loss. But it's been only minutes and he is already getting better, I can see it. Loki is strong, he will get through this. He has been through worse things and survived them, he will survive this too. I thank you, again."

Thor caressed his brother's brow and face, gently. I wondered how could he be so loving after that man on the bed had tried to kill him repeatedly.

"I remember one time when we were young boys, in Asgard." He continued "Loki got sick with some strange fevers, no one in the realm knew what was wrong with him and he wouldn't get better, only worse. He spent years sick, whole years, but he wouldn't give up. It was the first time in my life I felt truly scared. I never felt so impotent, so useless, so weak. But then he got better and I forgot about it. We went hunting and jested and continued our lived. Like it had never happened."

Sometimes, when I was at war I considered the enemy to be just an object in the way of victory. An object with certain characteristics that had to be taken out of the picture. Forgot they were people. It was easier that way. But seeing Loki that vulnerable and having his older brother tell me about that time when they were kids and he got sick... That was big reminder. They were people (even crazy alien Loki) who had their lives and the people who loved them. And maybe deserved a little caring.

Thor caressed Loki's ghost-pale face and looked at me.

"Sorry, I must be boring you with my tales from the past. We should probably meet the Man of Iron to discuss how are we going to get back to the man who did this, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

It was hard to argue with a guy like Thor.

We went out and I met Jane Foster, Thor's girlfriend, a lovely scientist woman that had been visited by Dominion too. We had some lunch in one of Stark's enormous kitchens while we discussed what had happenned. It still amazed me the amount of wealth and technology that he had. I remembered my youth, when we had almost nothing and half of the gadgets and commodities from this day hadn't been invented yet. Those were different times.

And so we were there, in an enormous living room, Thor, Jane, Stark and I prepared to face a new threat. I had planned to look at Television today, to continue getting to know this time and its antics. But no such luck. Here I was, in the middle of nowhere hearing about lunatics who could make magic and spread death threats. Not how I planned my day to be.

"So you can't do much magic, then?" Tony was asking Thor.

"I never needed to. I had the power of thunder and the best sorcerer in the realm by my side. It was never my style and I never thought I would be in disadvantage for it. I am the son of Odin, I did not need such tricks!"

"Ok, ok, usual methods, then. We'll attack with the usual hammer thunder laser combo and if we need to stop the attacks we can use Cap's shield."

"Didn't you say had some ideas to stop him, Stark?" Thor said, with his hyper-grave voice.

"Yeah, I thought of a plan to go against this guy -couldn't sleep- and I'd like you guys to hear it, see what you think. I have here some samples of a paralyzing serum that was perfected in one of Stark industries labs, very powerful stuff. We could use it on him if we could get close enough. If he can't move, he won't be able to do much damage, right?"

I liked the idea.

"Sounds good. So the plan is multiple offenses while trying to approach the man. When we are close enough we administer this serum and end of story. Do you know how long that serum lasts?"

"Four hours, more or less. Enough for Fury and his people to come and get the douche out of here and into a nice cell. He'll probably figure out a way to scape that, too, but it will give us time to assemble the people and will put some distance between him, my beautiful house and your dying brother."

"Do we have a location for this battle?" The place where you fought was an important aspect of every confrontation.

"There's a place about ten miles north, it has some nice rocks to shield ourselves from guns, lasers or whatever and no houses or people in sight. Dominion said that he'd come to us, so... "

"And when SHIELD go to that place they won't find Loki and try to imprison him." added Thor, nodding.

"Yes, big brother of the year, we don't have to say anything about Loki until he recovers. And when he does we give him a chance to collaborate against Dominion, if he's still around."

"Is that wise?" I asked, uncertain.

"Without his magic, Loki is like me without Mjolnir: powerful, but not a threat for the likes of the Avengers." Thor answered, convinced. "I'll be responsible for him." That was good enough for me.

I started putting together the pieces of the plan: the tactics, the place, the weapons. It was all very sudden but it looked like we had a chance at winning, especially if we went against this with all our combined fire-power.

"Ok, so we have ten hours until Dominion comes back, we'll have to prepare the weapons and establish some roles and actions for each one of us." I said, back in soldier mode. "Miss Jane, I want you here, next to a communicator. If we run out of something or need any kind of supplies we'll contact you, and you come right away, ok?" She nodded and Stark showed her where she could get some weapons, just in case.

"I am happy that you are with us, Captain." Thor told me before going to prepare himself.

I smiled.

"Likewise." The otherworldly guy -not a God in my book- and I hadn't always been in the best of terms but I knew he was a good man and a damn good soldier to be in battle with.

We arrived at the location three hours later and I have to admit that I liked Stark's choice. Pretty much deserted but with enough rocks, slopes and irregularities to use to our advantage. Nevertheless, I told the rest of the team not to underestimate the enemy, because that always led to disaster.

On the set hour Dominion appeared in a glow of silver with some hideous matching clothes and he smirked to us.

"Prepare to die, gentlemen."

"Oh, shut up." The fully suited Stark said and blasted him. But nothing happened and Dominion just stood there without a stain on his clothes.

"What the..."

We kept going at him. I threw my shield. Nothing. Tony kept going at him with every gadget he had in that suit. Nothing. Thor went at him with his unpronounceable hammer and again, nothing happened.

"You can't hurt me!" Dominion yelled, through the mist caused by the attacks.

I put myself behind a rock, thinking what could be causing this. Did he had some sort of invisible shield? Why couldn't we get through? No, this way we were not going to be able approach him, we'd have to change our plan... Stark's voice interrumpted my thoughts.

"What do we do, Cap?"

"Just keep going at him, try to weaken whatever spell is protecting him!" I yelled. It was not a great plan, but I couldn't think of anything else right now. I would retreat to think about a new strategy, maybe get a different set of weapons, but I didn't want to endanger Miss Foster, the doctors and the rest of the people in Stark's house. We had to hope that this sloppy tactic would work.

It was already dark and the sand from the desert was reducing the visibility more and more. I could hardly see Dominion now and I knew where my partners were thanks only to the light in Stark's suit and Thor's occasional thunderstorms. But other than that, plain darkness. Not a thing I had taken into account.

Suddenly, when I was already thinking about retreating, Dominion disappeared and there was only darkness where he'd been.

And then there was a scream.

A/N: Liked it? Hope you did! Leave your opinions, impressions etc. down there, on the reviews sections! And thanks to everyone who's commented, favorited, alerted and simply read this story so far! Thank you! Milesker!

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	8. All is well when it ends well

Thor POV

"What was that?"

We approached the place, cautious, weapons at the ready. There was no one to attack Dominion, we were completely alone in this piece of desert. So how come he wasn't there anymore? We advanced with all five senses alert, in case it was a trap, analyzing every shadow. I couldn't see too well because of the mist the sand had created but as we got near the place they could hear sounds of struggling and their enemy apparently choking.

Tony pointed out with one of the lights of his suit and we could finally start to make out two shapes on the ground near the place he had been. There seemed to be two men, two shapes struggling in the dark. I really wished we could see better. Who could this mysterious presence that had come and in a matter of seconds achieved what we'd been trying for hours?

"Let go of me!" Dominion's high-pitched voice came "Let me go!"

"Not so arrogant now, are you?" Replied a vaguely familiar smooth voice.

I couldn't believe it. That most certainly could not be him. How on earth could it be? The last time I'd seen him he was still as a ghost, recovering in a bed quite a long distance from here. He couldn't be here!

"Brother?"

Stark's suit lit up the night, so everyone could see that there indeed was Loki, with each one of his hands in each side of the man's neck, on the floor as if about to choke him. I could not believe this vision. It had to be some sort of trick or illusion. But Loki was without his magic and he the only one capable of such a feat.

"You were supposed to be dead!" Dominion cried while trying (and failing) to free himself. "Why are you not dead?"

"Maybe I'm not dead because you left me in the hands of the only person in the whole nine realms who would try to save me? It was not a very smart move on your part."

I looked again. It really was him and he really was there, in front of us, taking down the enemy. A million questions starting forming in my head.

"Loki!" I cried "What are you doing here? How did you arrive? And when did you wake up? Why was I not informed?"

My brother just smiled while Dominion continued to thrash under his grip. He looked as ghostly as he had before, with the grey mixing with the white in his waxy skin and spots of bruised purple-blue under his eyes. But now his eyes were open and focused and there was no blood. He was truly alive again.

"Would you care putting one your mighty feet in top of this man?" Loki answered "I am afraid I won't be able to restrain him much longer in my current weakened state."

I moved in the direction of my brother and our enemy and did as I was told. I put his foot on top of the man without any problem while the rest of my friends just stared. This did not seem logical at all. We agreed to give the man the paralyzing serum that we'd brought to minimize the risk of him escaping. Nevertheless, I kept my foot on his chest, in case the effect was not as lasting as we presumed.

"Excuse me, but before anything else can I ask how could you bring down a man that we couldn't hit for hours? And without any weapons that I can see." The American Captain said, surprised.

While he spoke I thought I heard something move behind me and instructed the rest of them to hush. The fact that the apparent danger was controlled didn't mean the battle was won. But before I retrieved Mjolnir to swing it against this new threat I heard:

"Don't shoot, it's just me, Jane!"

Everyone breathed, relieved, except Dominion (unmoving under my foot) and Loki, who was now sitting in a rock with his eyes closed and a slightly pained expression in his face. I wondered why was Jane here but I was happy that she was. Maybe she could help explaining whatever was happening.

"Answering to your question, Captain, I will tell you that I was able to strike him _because_ I had no weapons. This man likes to use a shielding spell that neutralizes every attack it recognizes. So every laser, or thunder or even spell that you throw at him is useless, every frontal attack vaporized. But the shield doesn't recognize someone sneaking from behind him as an attack (could be an ally or a passerby) so it doesn't work. It doesn't recognize Thor's foot either, because it's not a direct aggression like a slap or a punch and falls in the same category of contact as shaking someone's hand or getting a massage."

I smiled. This was most certainly my brother and not a vision, the one I knew when we were younger, the one so full of wisdom about magic and spells. The brother I knew before madness and darkness consumed him. I sadly wondered how long he would last this way.

"And how did you know about this shield? We didn't see anything." The Captain asked. I wanted to ask Loki how he'd gotten here and how could he be so cured after such a short time but I could wait. And I was curious as well.

"I recognized it the first time we fought. A clever move on his part because it's a very rare spell only documented in antique books… most people do not know of its existence. But I did and I knew how to counteract it so he cursed me with that horrible spell."

"One last thing, do you know this man learned that magic? Because I don't want to hear that there is someone teaching how to do those somewhere here in America." The captain, always worrying about his precious America.

"Fear not" Loki said "there is no such thing. This man comes from the same place as Thor and I do, from Asgard." I looked at him, confused. I had never seen that man before. "We didn't know him, Thor, because while we were princes he was a mere prisoner. Imprisoned for misusing his magic, attempting homicide and many more things. A prisoner for centuries with rage building up against the Allfather and all our country every day of his sentence. And there, in the prison, we met and I told him about Midgard and its mighty heroes and the strength of its people. He thought that when his sentence was fulfilled he could come here and rule earth, the way I tried to, so he could declare war on Asgard and use this planet's resources to destroy those who imprisoned him. I tried to warn fa… Odin that this man's magic was too dangerous and should be bound, but he thought I was just jealous of his abilities. So the sentence ended and came as planned taking me from my cell with in the hopes of having an ally. He was more powerful than anyone gave him credit for. What I was trying to tell Thor was "you have to stop the magic". Because the magic was killing me but it could also have destroyed a great part of this planet and Asgard."

I listened to Loki's story with growing concern. Another bitter person from our hometown, attacking Midgard. How many more would there be? And how could all this have ended if we hadn't had Loki and his knowledge of spells? The mortals had also listened carefully but I knew they were skeptic than I was. They suspected anything and everything from Loki.

"Wow. And were you not tempted to join?" Asked the Man of Iron, never forgetting my brother's darker side.

"I am tired of losing, Stark. It all seems pointless now. The tesseract, the invasion… it was never going to give me the recognition I so craved. I wanted to be king almost desperately but you were right when you told me that there was no version of it with me ruling in a blaze of glory. I have no place here and I know that now. Those days are over."

"Nice. So you don't want to rule us or kill blondie anymore, right?"

"Had I really wanted Thor to die, he would had been dead, trust me."

I smiled, happy.

"I knew your heart was not in it! A sneaky clever man like yourself, you could have killed in many ways while we were on Midgard but you did not! Because deep down, you do not want me to perish."

Loki looked at me, a sad smile on his lips and eyes.

"I thought you were going to let me die after Dominion cursed me. I can hardly hate you after what you have done to save my life. And I thank the rest of you, too, Lady Jane has told me while we came here about how you helped when you had no reason to do so. This is a debt I will not forget and I will do my best to repay."

I was glad to see that less reluctance on my friends' faces.

"One more thing, how come you look so good, when you were almost dead just hours ago?" Stark asked, voicing my own unasked question.

"You'll have to ask your Lady Jane. I do not know what she did but it has certainly worked."

All looks were on the up until now ignored Jane.

"I just… He woke up and kept saying that you were doomed, and going to perish, but he wouldn't tell me how to help, he was barely coherent… So I took some adrenaline syringes from the medical supplies and hit him in the chest. Like in pulp fiction, you know? You wouldn't come back and I knew something was wrong and he knew it, too, but he was too weak. So I did that, a bit crazy, I know, but it worked. After six times."

Everyone seemed very surprised by this revelation (You stabbed the guy _six_ times in the chest!). I could only love Jane more knowing how much she cared and how splendidly she always acted. I wanted to hug them all but decided to restrain myself.

"So, what now?" Jane asked me. "You bring this Dominion guy to Asgard and Loki goes back to prison?"

"Thor, please, not that place again." Loki said. "People go insane there and I am already dangerously close to insanity. You know that."

I did not know what to do. Loki had to pay for his crimes for it broke my heart sending him back to prison after this whole ordeal that had started precisely there. But what other choices did we have?

"I have an idea." The Captain said. "What if hold Loki here, in one of our cells. If he really regrets what he's done and wants to repay us he could help when there is another alien menace. He has valuable knowledge about magic and other worlds that we could use, and maybe helping us would lighten his sentence, like a kind of community service. No magic, of course, but we know that he's quite an asset even without it. And that way you don't have to return to prison you hate so much."

It was a wonderful idea.

We loved the idea.

And then, I hugged Captain America. Again.

Two days later, I left my brother's cell (I knew he was going to escape and get his magic back eventually but meanwhile we kept a very nice relationship) and appeared, all dressed up, flowers in one hand, chocolates in the other in Jane's door.

She opened, beautiful as always and I asked:

"Where were we?"

THE END

A/N: This is the story. Hope you have enjoyed it! There were no reviews last chapter : ( so I don't know what you thought of it. Would love it if you told me something about this one or the story as a whole (which parts you liked the best etc.). I'm writing another Avengers story, focused on Steve and Loki, in case you're interested (it's better than this one, truth to be told). Anyways, a big thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed it. Long live Loki!


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